


Sugar, We're Going Down (Swinging)

by samdeanstilinski



Series: Chronicles of A Fallen Love [2]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Drinking, Fake AH Crew AU, GTA AU, Heist AU, M/M, Swearing, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-29
Updated: 2014-12-20
Packaged: 2018-02-23 01:50:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2529575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samdeanstilinski/pseuds/samdeanstilinski
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been over two years since Gavin Free died, since Michael Jones started to spiral downwards into almost insanity. He managed to climb out of his dark hole of grief- or, at least, convince the other members of the Fake AH Crew that he had -, and his life returned to normalcy; shooting people, blowing shit up, and being one of the four members of the most successful gang in Los Santos.</p><p>And then, some idiot has to knock at his door and turn his whole life upside down. Again. </p><p>A sequel to Put On Your War Paint.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Am I More Than You Bargained For Yet?

**Author's Note:**

> So, first of all, I want to thank everyone again for all the kudos and comments I received on Put On Your War Paint. It seriously means so much to me. <3
> 
> Here's the sequel that I said I was going to do. I haven't planned that far ahead, so we'll see where it goes. Make sure to comment to tell me what you think! 
> 
> If you didn't know, the title is the same as a Fall Out Boy song title, matching the same theme as the first one's title. I thought they should match, kind of. Plus, titles are _hard_
> 
> In case it isn't clear enough, this is set two and a half years after the end of Put On Your War Paint - when Gavin was shot and fell off the building roof. It's about three years since the start of that fanfiction, when they met Ray Narvaez Jr. 
> 
> Now, enjoy!

The blond took one last glance at the list of addresses and crumpled the sheet of paper into his pocket. A dark haired man jogged over to him to meet his pace, falling into stride with him easily.

"Where to now, B?" he asked. The lighter haired man pursed his lips and took the sheet from his pocket. He passed it to the other man without meeting his eyes, not slowing his pace as he did.

"The second address." The dark haired man looked down through the addresses and let out a low whistle.

"You're going to him first?" he said. The blond nodded, though kept his head down to avoid the light drizzle. 

"He's the closest one to here, and the Dark Men are going to find us again soon. The Mordell Family can't be that far behind, either." 

"Are you nervous?" the black haired man asked. The blond smirked, a breathy laugh escaping his lips. 

"I'm bloody terrified," he admitted. "He scares me more than the Dark Men and Family combined, sometimes. But I'm also pretty fucking excited." 

His partner nodded, but the blond wondered how much he actually understood. He was dreading seeing him, but also couldn't wait. He was afraid of his reaction, but also looking forward to it. He had been wanting to see him again for over two years, and yet now he had his chance he wanted nothing more than to just turn tail and run. 

They turned a corner and walked along an eerily quiet street. There wasn't a soul outside, and the blond couldn't blame them. His white t-shirt was already sticking to his skin, a mixture of sweat and rain, and he let out an involuntary shiver. 

He looked up to the dark clouds above, and his eye caught the sight of a man dressed in black on a rooftop. He noticed the sniper rifle at the same time the man noticed him.

"Get down!" the blond yelled, grabbing the darker haired man's shirt and tugging him into the alleyway to their left, landing roughly on the floor as a shot rang out. He heard a groan from his friend and fear struck his heart.

"Shit, Dan, you okay?" he asked, scrambling to his feet. He dusted the stones from his palms and reached out a hand to help the dark haired man up. Dan took his hand gratefully and let him pull him to his feet, wincing at the movement. 

"Yeah, 'm fine. It was just a graze," Dan assured him. The blond's eyes trailed down to the wound on the right side of the man's torso, the shirt ripped slightly and blood staining the surrounding material. He set his lips into a grim smile, but didn't argue with Dan. There wasn't much they could do about it either way.

"Was that a Dark Man or a Mordell?" Dan asked him. He furrowed his eyebrows slightly and thought about it. The Mordell Family were more likely to snipe, a much more tactical method. The Dark Men tended to be a lot more hands on in their approach. 

But then, if it had been the Family shooting at them, they most likely be dead.

"Probably a Dark Man, but not sure," he admitted. "Doesn't really matter, though."

"They'll have called back up," Dan warned. The blond nodded in agreement. He risked peering around the side of the building, their only shelter, and cursed. Three men dressed in black were already walking down the street in their direction, guns evident at their hips. 

"They already have," he told Dan. "Come on, we have to get moving." Dan kept one hand pressed to his wound as they jogged down the alleyway, lagging behind slightly. The blond kept a firm grasp on the man's free hand, the other hovering over the gun by his waistband.

They turned a corner onto another street, not as empty as the other one, but still fairly deserted. The blond bit his lip and looked around. The Mordell Family were more cautious when it came to witnesses, but the Dark Men didn't seem like the type to care about that sort of thing. 

He decided to head to the restaurant across the street, hoping for an exit in the kitchen to some back alleyway. Dan clearly had the same idea, as he strode ahead in the same direction.

"I think we're going to have to split up," Dan commented. The blond turned to him, eyes wide.

"You can't be serious, B," he breathed. "You're bloody injured, you can't make it there on your own."

"Like hell I can't!" Dan responded. "I didn't spend all that time in the army - hell, I didn't bloody spend months training with you and Monty to let them catch me over a graze from a bullet."

"How the fuck is splitting up even supposed to help us?" the blond hissed. He pushed open the doors to the restaurant and the two walked in. He looked into the street as he shut the doors behind them and saw the man walking out of the alleyway. He frowned lightly.

"We're much harder to catch that way, and you know it," Dan replied. "It's much easier to be sneaky when it's just you that you're worried about."

The two started to walked through the tables, making their way to the door marked _STAFF ONLY_. 

"You mean you think you're going to slow me down with your wound," the blond replied angrily. Dan gave him a crooked smile.

"Partly," he admitted, cocking his head to the side. "But, I also think you can distract them enough that I can get by undetected. You're a lot more noticeable than me." He grinned at the blond's expression. "Hey, I wouldn't be suggesting this if I didn't think I'd make it out alive. Trust me-"

"Excuse me," a woman interrupted, stepping in front of the door to the kitchen. The blond quickly pulled his shirt over the gun at his waistband to obscure it. "The kitchen is staff only, I'm afraid. I'm going to have- oh, God." Her mouth fell open at the sight of Dan's blood shirt.

"You're injured, sir, I don't know if you realize..." she trailed off, still staring at the wound. "I'll call an ambulance."

"That won't be necessary," the blond assured her. He heard Dan whisper a quiet "fuck" beside him and turned his head as the restaurant entrance opened. 

One of the men from the alleyway walked in, a clearly visible gun in one hand. Definitely a Dark Man, though knowing that wasn't much of a help at the moment.

Welp, shit. 

"Sorry, don't mind me, I'll just..." the blond shoved past the woman into the kitchen, and Dan followed quickly behind. The two sprinted as fast as they could through the kitchen without running into any of the chefs, and came out the back entrance into an alleyway, beside the trash.

Dan slammed the door behind them and took a moment to regain his breath, His hand still pressed against his wound, and the blond frowned. He was really running out of options at this point. 

"Fine, we'll split up. Meet at the address as soon as we can." Dan nodded and started to walk away, but the blond abruptly pulled the younger man into a firm hug.

"Be careful, B," he warned. Dan returned the hug and nodded against his shoulder. 

"You too," he said. The two pulled back and gave each other one last glance before parting ways.

The blond walked down the alley and peeked around the corner, starting back when he saw a Dark Man walking down the street away from him. He pulled out his revolver and waited a few minutes before peering around again. He was gone.

The blond let out a relieved sigh and quickly made his way across the street. He hadn't been to the city in a while, but he still knew the place like the back of his hand. 

The rain was pouring heavily now, and he was sure a storm was about to start any second. His hair was dripping and his t-shirt soaked to the bone, the material clinging to his lanky frame. He kept his head down and made a mad sprint around the corner, almost running straight into a Dark Man.

The man looked just as stunned as he felt. Both scrambled for their guns, but the blond already had his out. His heart was pounding violently against his chest as he positioned the muzzle of the revolver against the other man's chin and pulled the trigger. 

He stumbled back from the corpse, trying to avoid looking at it as he ran around it. As much as he did it, there was something about killing someone, especially as close as that had just been, that would always unsettle him.

Someone screamed, most likely at the sight of the body, and he started into a sprint. As unreliable as the Los Santos Police Force could be, he was fairly sure that a dead body and several gun shots wouldn't go unnoticed.

One more turn, a quick glance around to make sure that no one was following him, and he was in the apartment building. It was a nice place, but he hadn't expected anything less. He didn't bother to admire the scenery and didn't bother with the elevator, too impatient to wait. He took the stairs two at a time.

He came to a halt outside room 224, still dripping wet. He raised his hand to knock on the door and paused. Should he wait for Dan? Probably. Or maybe he should go back and find him. They shouldn't have split up in the first place, the guy had been injured-

He was stalling, and he knew it. He had to knock eventually. _You could always walk away,_ he thought, but the thought of leaving when he was just on the other side of the door was almost unbearable.

He took a deep breath, preparing for whatever reaction he would receive, and knocked. The door opened, and he found himself face to face with the man he hadn't seen for almost three years.

"Hey," Gavin said breathlessly, trying at a small smile. "I know it's been a while, but I need your help."

And then, Michael Jones punched him in the face.

"Ach!" Gavin squawked. "What the hell, Michael?" He had to admit, when he had imagined meeting his boi again, he had pictured it with a lot more kissing, a lot less potentially broken noses.

"Are you fucking serious?" Michael spat back. " _You're_ asking _me_ what the hell? You're supposed to be dead! You fucking died two and a half years ago, I saw you-" Michael's voice cracked and he quickly coughed to hide it. 

Gavin's smile fell at Michael's distress. He had been a complete idiot to think that Michael would be anything but mad at him. He wanted to hug him so badly, to comfort him, but he was pretty sure that would just result in another punch.

"I'm sorry, Michael," Gavin said quietly. "I didn't mean to... I mean, after I'd healed up, it had been a couple of months. I always planned to come back eventually, but I kind of figured..." he trailed off and looked down at his feet, shuffling in the spot awkwardly. 

Michael sighed and stepped to the side. Gavin looked up at him and stepped into the apartment. Michael looked less angry, more... confused. Gavin couldn't exactly blame him. He'd be pretty confused if his friend came back from the dead after over two years.

 _Friend? Boyfriend? Ex-boyfriend?_ Gavin shook his head lightly. Now was not the time to be worrying about what his relationship status with Michael was.

Michael shut the door behind him and the two walked over to the living space. Michael made himself comfortable on the sofa, but Gavin stayed on his feet. He stood in front of the television and looked around at the apartment.

"Nice apartment," Gavin commented idly. "The Fake AH Crew never moved back in together, then?" He wondered if Michael could tell what he was really asking: _Is the crew still together?_ Burnie hadn't mentioned it when he went around for the addresses, but he couldn't help but worry slightly.

Michael sighed and raised his eyebrows at him incredulously. "You're asking me about my apartment?" he said. "You've just pulled a fucking Edgar on me, coming back from the dead and all. Can you at least tell me what happened? Why, after two and a half years, you decided to come back _now_?" 

Gavin looked down at his feet and sighed. "It's a long story."

"Dude, don't give me that bullshit. Just tell me-" Both of their heads shot up as the door opened.

"Hey, Michael, I've got-" Ray's eyes widened as they fell on Gavin. His gaze darted between Michael, then Gavin, then Michael, and then back to Gavin. "Okay, what the actual _fuck_."

"Hey, Ray," Gavin said weakly, giving him a wave. He had missed Michael more than he thought possible, but seeing Ray made him realize how much he missed him, too. He had only known him for a few months, but it didn't mean that they hadn't grown fairly close during the time.

Ray placed his shopping bag on the floor and cocked his head to the side, before a grin spread over his face. He opened his arms wide and walked over to Gavin, and Gavin quickly reciprocated the hug.

"Jesus Christ, Vav-" Ray spluttered over his own words and pulled back at his mistake, still grinning. Gavin laughed.

"Did you just call me _Vav_?" he asked. Ray laughed, eyes crinkling behind his glasses.

"Vav, Gav, whatever," he teased. His expression fell slightly and he ran a hand through his hair. "But seriously, what the fuck? Don't get me wrong, it's good to see you, but I mean - how are you even alive right now?"

Uneven footsteps echoed down the hallway, and then Dan Gruchy stumbled to the ground in their doorway, one hand still nursing his torso, the other clutching onto the door frame. A fresh bullet wound was visible in his left shoulder. His face was pale and he looked about to pass out.

Gavin sighed. "I'm alive because of him."


	2. I've Been Dying To Tell You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter! I was hoping to have this for yesterday, so it would be once a week, but then I didn't have it finished and stuff, so here it is. I'm going to be doing this once a week as opposed to the twice a week for Put On Your War Paint, because I have homework and study and things... I'm doing exams this year, so that kind of sucks. :3
> 
> Anyways, thank you for all the positive feedback on the first chapter! Hope you all like this one. :')

Gavin leaned against the kitchen counter and frowned lightly, his eyes lingering on Dan. Caleb was patching him up on the sofa. Gavin knew that he had wounds much worse than that before, but it didn't stop him from worrying. 

He turned his head as Michael approached the kitchen counter, avoiding Gavin's eyes. Michael opened the fridge and pulled out two beers, placing one in front of Gavin before opening his own. He took a sip.

"How's your nose?" he asked. Gavin subconsciously lifted a hand to his face, before dropping it down to the beer can. He popped it open.

"Caleb checked it out for me, he said it isn't broken," Gavin replied with a shrug. He had a lot more on his mind than his nose; if Dan was okay, if the crew would help him, if Michael hated him.

"Pity," Michael said. "Might've actually improved it."

Ray laughed as he walked past, dialling Geoff on his phone. Gavin glared at him and he smirked as he placed the phone to his ear.

"Nose jokes weren't funny two years ago, and they're not funny now," Gavin grumbled. Michael let out a small laugh, quickly drowning it out with a gulp of his beer.

"Sorry about punching you in the face," he said.

"Nah, I kind of deserved it," Gavin responded. As much as he believed that not coming back was the right thing to do, it didn't mean that his supposed death hadn't put Michael through hell. He still wasn't sure whether not coming back at first had been the right choice, or whether he regretted it, but he knew the least he deserved was a punch in the face either way.

"Yeah," Michael agreed. Gavin chuckled.

The door burst open and Geoff Ramsey stormed in, followed closely behind by Jack Patillo. Geoff walked over to Gavin and wrapped his arms around him, crushing the boy against his chest. 

"Fucking Christ, Gavin, you're not dead. I have to admit, I didn't see that one coming," Jack said, closing the door behind him.  
Geoff pulled away from the hug and pushed Gavin back angrily. He stumbled backwards, back hitting against the counter and almost toppling his drink. 

"What the fuck, Gavin? Where the fuck have you been for three years?" Geoff yelled. Gavin slumped down awkwardly.

"Sorry, Geoff." Geoff glared at him, before taking Gavin's half empty beer can and gulping it down. Ray walked over to the group.

"Who's the guy on the couch?" Jack asked, voice lowering. They all turned to look at Dan. Gavin sighed and looked down at his feet.

"Dan Gruchy, the guy he was living with found me. I stayed with them after that," he said. He glanced over at Michael, and judging by his darkened expression, he recognised the name.

"Dan Gruchy? Isn't that the guy you worked with before he went off to the army and you met me?" he said. Gavin nodded.

"What the fuck? How did he even find you?"

"He didn't, I said the guy he was _living with_ found me - his friend's cousin, Monty. The guy is like a ninja, you know, eyes of a hawk 'n all. He rescued me, and recognised me because of Dan, I guess. They were living over in Achievement City, not that far from here."

Michael pursed his lips and looked ready to argue, but kept quiet as Dan got up from the couch. He made his way over to the group, one hand on the bandage on the right side of his torso. 

"Why did you come back now?" Ray asked. "It's been over two years, so what changed?"

"Because," Dan answered, "We're kind of in trouble, and we need your help." 

"What kind of trouble?" Jack said.

"What kind of help?" Geoff added, eyebrows furrowing. 

"We pissed off some people," Gavin said with a shrug. He looked over at Dan and frowned. "You okay?"

"Yeah, 'm fine," he replied, though he winced when he moved. 

"What people?" Geoff said. "What do you want us to do about it? Kill them? Hide you guys?"

Gavin sighed. "Have you ever heard of The Mordell Family? Or the Dark Men?" 

Most of the group shook their heads, but Ray looked unsure.

"The Mordell Family... I was hired by them, back when I did that kind of thing. I helped out a few times, actually," he admitted. "Smart group, but don't like getting their hands dirty - or at least, don't like them to _look_ dirty, I guess. Stay under the radar, that kind of thing."

"Yeah," Gavin agreed. "Well, I was helping Dan out with a few things - we didn't usually do the whole 'job for hire' thing, we didn't consider ourselves mercenaries or anything, but they were offering a shit ton of cash just to break in to the Dark Men's base and steal some documents. We got in and out fine with barely a scratch, though we got seen by this one guy, so now the Dark Men know our faces and are gunning for us. Then, we realised that the documents are worth way more than we were paid, so we sold them to someone else, and The Mordell Family are looking for our heads over that, too."

"Jesus Christ, Gav," Jack exclaimed. "You're in some deep shit." 

"So, you just want protection?" Ray said.

Gavin nodded. "Pretty much."

"Hey, Gav, I'll make you a deal," Geoff decided. "We'll help you two survive, or whatever, as long as you guys help us on our heists. Fair trade?"

"Geoff, the Family are pretty fucking badass, I don't know if-" Ray started, before being cut off by a glare from Geoff.

"It's a deal," Dan interjected. Gavin exchanged glances with him and nodded. Geoff grinned. 

"Good." He turned towards the door and paused. "Hey, it's nice to have you back, buddy."

"Thanks, Geoff," Gavin replied. Geoff closed the door behind him. 

***

~ Michael watched as the boy's blond hair disappeared over the edge of the building. His heart stopped in his chest. He sprinted towards the drop, legs feeling sluggish, as though he was running on sand. A piercing ring filled his ears, the sound of his own voice screaming the only thing he could make out.

"Gavin. Gavin!"

Michael's eyes met Gavin's green ones for a split second, before the Brit's body hit the water and his figure was swallowed underneath the waves.

" _Gavin_!"

No. _No_! ~  
\--

Michael woke up panting, one hand clutching desperately onto the bedsheets beside him. He kicked the heavy blanket off of him, an uncomfortable sweat already sticking his shirt to his skin. He frowned into the darkness, the nightmare of Gavin's death haunting him yet again. No, his _supposed_ death.

Michael clenched his fists and thought about calling out for Ray. The guy was probably still awake, anyway, playing Halo or trying to perfect one of his new games. He decided against it, though. The last time that he had told Ray he had been having nightmares about Gavin, he had started to worry. No need to freak the guy out over nothing. 

He thought back to earlier that day, when Gavin had arrived. The boy hadn't just walked out of their life, he'd jumped out of it, into a river of freezing cold water, and then knocked on the door with an awkward smile on his face, as if a simple "oops" could make up for the fact that he had practically driven Michael insane with grief two years prior.

His first instinct when he saw Gavin had been to wrap his arms around the boy's scrawny figure and never let him go. His second instinct was to punch him in the face. Naturally, Michael had gone with the second option.

And when Dan showed up, Michael had to admit, he had felt the same emotion he had felt when Ray and Gavin had hung out three years prior - jealousy, wriggling around in his stomach and nauseating him. God, he hated Gavin for that. The guy had been back in his life for a few hours, and Michael was already starting to feel something for him. 

_No, stop it, Michael,_ he chided himself. His heart had felt like it would burst from his chest the moment he saw Gavin, but he couldn't be hasty with his forgiveness - not that Gavin would expect him to. Michael always could hold a grudge.

His phone buzzed beside him, and Michael reached out to grab his phone from the bedside table. There was a text message.

> Unknown Number: Sorry about everything. I didn't mean to upset you. - G

> Michael: gav how the fuck did you get this number, and why the fuck are you texting me at two in the morning. 

> Unknown Number: Me and Dan went around to Rooster Teeth this morning, got all you guys' numbers and addresses. It's how I knew where you lived. 

> Unknown Number: Also, I couldn't sleep. Why are YOU up at two am?

Michael sighed, finger pausing over the phone's keypad. He added Gavin to his list of contacts before replying.

> Michael: had a nightmare. nd i'll make sure to tell geoff how fucking easy burnie gave up our contact information. NOW GO THE FUCK TO SLEEP.

Michael placed his phone down beside him and rolled over, trying to get into a comfortable position. He doubted he was going to get to sleep anytime soon, but it couldn't hurt to try. 

His phone buzzed, and despite himself, he checked his messages.

> Gavin: I'll try to sleep. Night, Michael. 

**

Gavin looked up with tired eyes as Dan entered the kitchen. Dan gave him a small smile as he went to make his breakfast. Gavin returned the smile and returned his gaze to his phone.

"What's up, B?" Dan asked, searching through the fridge. Gavin didn't look up from the screen when he replied.

"I'm talking to Geoff. He says he's going to try to get Team Building Exercise to track some of The Dark Men and The Mordell Family, you know, find them before they find us."

"Team Building Exercise?" Dan echoed. He placed two pieces of bread in the toaster and waited. Gavin nodded with a light laugh.

"Yeah, apparently what they're calling Lindsay, Kdin, Matt and Jeremy now. I don't know how they got the nickname," he said. "They're our technical guys. Lindsay can also be pretty scary when she needs to be, though." His smile faltered slightly. He wondered if Lindsay knew he was alive.

"Got it," said Dan. The toast popped at the same time as Gavin's phone vibrated.

Dan took the toast from the toaster and placed it on his plate. He reached for the butter spread beside him. "What did Geoff say?"

He turned to look at Gavin when he didn't reply. Gavin was looking at his phone screen, eyes wide and jaw clenched. Dan frowned. 

"It wasn't Geoff," Gavin said after a moment. "It was Monty. Or Monty's phone, at least." He turned the phone around to face Dan, and he walked over to see the message.

> Monty: Gavin Free and Dan Gruchy. Hand yourselves in and we'll be merciful. - The Family. 

"Fucking damn it," Dan hissed, eyes narrowing. "God damn it!"

"They hardly thought that would actually work," Gavin scoffed, his tone bitter. Dan rolled his eyes.

"That wasn't the point," he argued. "It was a threat. They were telling us that the have Monty. God damn it, Monty!" 

"What do we do?" Gavin asked. Dan sighed and rubbed his temples. Gavin wondered if he was thinking the same thing - if they had gotten Monty, what chance did the two of them have?

"I don't know, B. We have to think of something. We can't just leave him there," said Dan. Gavin nodded in agreement. 

"I'll tell Geoff to ask Team Building Exercise to hurry up, try and find a base-"

"We don't know that'll be quick enough," Dan replied. "That could take weeks."

"They found me within a few days," Gavin said quietly. Dan paused before replying. 

"This is The Mordell Family, B," he said. "They cover their tracks." Gavin pursed his lips and looked back down at the message. He didn't agree with Dan's logic, but he didn't want to get in an argument with him either. He didn't see any other option, anyway. 

"We have to think of a plan, maybe if we can follow someone back to a base..." Dan wrung his hands, eyes distant. Gavin sighed.

"There's no way we can pull it off with just the two of us," Gavin pointed out. He waited to see if Dan understood what he meant by that. Dan raised an eyebrow.

"Do you trust them? One hundred percent?" Dan said sharply. "With your life? With mine, with Monty's?"

"Definitely," Gavin replied without hesitation. He surprised himself with how quick he was to answer. It had been over two years, the Fake AH Crew could be completely different people. But he still believed his answer to be true.

Dan sighed. "Okay, then. I have a plan. It's kind of crazy, but I don't see what else we can do."

Gavin gave him a crooked smile. "I can work with crazy."


	3. Anything You Wanna' Hear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's late, guys! I'll try to post weekly, but I don't know if I'll be able to because I have so much homework and studying to do, and then on top of that just posting it takes forever because my internet is a pile of shite. 
> 
> Anyway, this chapter took me ages as well because I wasn't happy with it. Still not sure about it, but I'll post it anyway. Hope you guys enjoy. :')

Michael passed Gavin his earpiece, not even bothering to hide his disgruntled expression. This was a bad plan, Michael was sure of that. Of course, no one cared to listen to him about it, so he was stuck helping Gavin and Dan equip themselves.

Gavin attached the earpiece to his ear and turned to Michael to see if it was visible. Michael squinted slightly and gave him a thumbs up. It was visible if you were searching for it, but hopefully the Mordell Family wouldn't think to check for it. It seemed like a lot of the plan was based on the idea that the Family were a bunch of morons. Yeah, something was _definitely_ going to go wrong.

"We should have just waited for Team Building Exercise to track them down. This is fucking dumb," Michael sulked. Gavin gave him a reassuring smile, but Michael could see the fear in his eyes. Even Gavin knew there were a lot of flaws to their plan.

"We can't wait. It's Monty. You wouldn't understand," Dan replied absently, attaching his own microphone to his collar. Michael scowled.

"I understand fine," Michael snapped. "And I know this plan is only going to get all of you killed." He did understand. When Gavin had been taken by the Resurrection, he hadn't been able to sleep with worry. If he had thought something this reckless would work, he would have done it, too.

It didn't mean he had to be _happy_ about it.

"Everyone's in position," Geoff confirmed over the headset. Michael could see Ray out of the window, sitting on a bench while he scrolled through his phone, and if he looked close enough he could make out the shape of a gun under his jacket. Geoff and Jack were in a car down the street.

"Okay, I'll send the text," Gavin said, typing into his phone. Michael looked at the message over Gavin's shoulder, which contained the street they were on and a request for Monty. 

Dan walked out of the shut-down store. Gavin gave Michael one last nervous smile and followed him out. Michael furrowed his eyebrows and waited. 

A dark van pulled up about a minute later. Gavin eyed Dan nervously, and Michael placed a hand over the gun by his waistband. He narrowed his eyes, heart pounding, waiting for something to go desperately wrong.

God, he should have put money on it.

**

Gavin and Dan were still sheltered under the shop awning when the van pulled up. Gavin looked back in the store to where Michael was standing and gave him a nervous smile. Michael frowned.

A man got out of the passenger seat of the van. As soon as he shut the vehicle door, a bullet shot him in the head. 

“Bloody hell,” Dan mumbled, and the two of them dived for the pathetic cover of a nearby bench. Ray stood up from the bench in front of them and took out his gun. He ducked behind a pillar and fired shots off every few seconds. 

“Who is that?” Dan hissed. Gavin peeked up around the bench and noted the figures on the roofs opposite them, shooting at the Family’s van. 

“The Dark Men,” he decided. “It must be.” Had they not seen Gavin and Dan yet? Or did they just see the Family as worthier targets? Either way, Gavin wasn’t complaining.

A slim figure dressed in black flitted along the roof, unnoticed by the Dark Men. The figure snuck up on a Dark Man and in one swift movement snapped the man’s neck. The person seemed too graceful to commit such a cold-blooded murder.

They approached another shooter and repeated the action, before continuing across the rooftops. Several Dark Men had noticed the figure by now and began to shoot at them, but the figure dodged with ease, ducking and flipping in maneuvers Gavin had only seen Ray pull off, with a lot of luck involved.

It didn’t take long before the shooters were all dead. Dan gave a quiet whistle beside him. 

The figure turned to the van and the Mordell Family gave them a thumbs up. They must have been expecting the Dark Men to attack, if they already had someone ready to kill them on the roof. The assassin turned to leave and for a split second Gavin caught a glimpse of blonde hair underneath the black hat. 

“ _Fuck_ ,” Ray breathed from behind the pillar, but Gavin didn’t get a chance to ask him what about, as a man was gesturing for Dan and Gavin from the back of the van. The two of them hesitantly made their way over to the back of the vehicle, where two men and a woman already stood.

“Where’s Monty?” Dan asked, crossing his arms. They could clearly see into the open doors of the van, and there was no one in there. Gavin frowned. 

“Tell these fuckers to get a move on, I can hear sirens,” Geoff warned in Gavin’s hidden earpiece.

“We’re not going anywhere until you free Monty,” Gavin said stubbornly, both speaking to the Family and Geoff. Geoff sighed through the microphone.

“How the fuck did the Dark Men know Gavin and Dan would be here?” Michael’s voice butted in. 

“We can deal with that later,” said Geoff. Gavin agreed. He had other things to worry about at the moment, and The Family had dealt with the Dark Men without problems. Dan looked worried by Michael’s question, though. 

“Get in the van,” one of the men hurried. Gavin and Dan turned to face him, stubborn expressions on their faces.

“Where’s Monty?” asked Gavin, repeating Dan’s earlier words. The second man stepped towards Gavin and raised an eyebrow in a manner that was probably supposed to be threatening. Gavin scowled. 

“Listen here, you bloody pleb, we’re not-”

A punch in the face cut off his words and Gavin stumbled to the ground. His ears were filled with both Michael and Dan yelling his name.

A hand grabbed the collar of his shirt and he received another two punches in the ear, before being roughly thrown into the back of the van. Dan was yelling something that Gavin couldn’t make out over the loud ringing in his ear. He wondered if the ringing was because his ear was fucked up or because his earpiece was broken. He wasn’t sure which would be worse.

Dan stumbled in beside Gavin and the van doors slammed shut. Gavin pushed himself up into a crawling position and swallowed the blood welling up in his mouth. 

“Bloody pricks,” he murmured. The man kicked him harshly in the ribcage and he fell down again. Several more kicks hit his stomach and he groaned, impulsively curling into a ball to protect himself.

Dan was yelling again, and then another hit to his head caused everything to go blurry and slowly fade to darkness.

**

When Dan finally woke up, it was with a pounding headache and a hazy memory.

He struggled to his feet and tried to remember how he had gotten into the dingy cell. He had been in the van with Gavin, trying to stop the man from fighting him, when something had hit him from behind. He must have blacked out soon after that.

He stepped towards the cell door, and let out a grunt as pain shot up his left leg. He ground his teeth together and continued forward with a slight limp. There was a small barred window on the cell door, and he looked out into the hallway. It was devoid of life, apart from the occasional rat, and he couldn’t see anything to help him get out. God, he was so screwed.

And what about Gavin? Where the fuck was that guy? He already had nightmares as it was, and Dan didn’t what to think about what he might be going through. Or that Dan might be next.

He snapped his head up and the sound of metal creaking, and looked up to see the window on the cell across from him had opened up. A man with light hair and the start of a beard met his eyes and gave him a tired smile. 

“You’re awake,” he commented, before adding, “You’re a mess.”

“Wow, thanks,” Dan replied sarcastically. “Way to make me feel better.”

“No, I mean you’re all bruised and shit…” the man gestured to his face, before dropping his hand and rolling his eyes. “Forget it.”

Dan frowned lightly and raised a hand to his face, flinching when he came in contact with his black eye. He furrowed his eyebrows. 

“I don’t remember getting them,” he muttered. The man in the other cell shrugged a shoulder.

“They weren’t exactly gentle bringing you in here. I’d say you got most of them just from that,” he said. Dan sighed. He turned back to his own cell and started to look around for some sort of escape.

“You’re not going to find anything,” the man assured him. “I’ve been in here for at least three months at this point. I’ve already tried everything.”

“Well, you’re not in my cell,” Dan grumbled quietly, but he knew the man was probably right. Still, he needed to do something. He couldn’t just sit around and wait for something to happen.

He sighed, his eyes scanning the ground and quickly doing a double take over a small item on the floor. He squinted and hunkered down, only wincing slightly at the pain that shot through his leg. Was that- it was his earpiece! Oh, God, he hoped it worked. He placed it to his ear and stood up, immediately hearing Geoff’s voice. 

“-God’s sake, Dan, you’re earpiece better be working. I can hear you through your mic,” Geoff said, voice slightly static. Dan let out a mad laugh, relief swelling through him.

“So, what’s your name?” the man in the other cell called over to Dan, but he ignored him, instead opting to speak to Geoff.

“Jesus Christ, I’ve never been gladder to hear your voice, Ramsey,” Dan said, a smile overtaking his features.

“What the fuck are you talking about? My name isn’t even Ramsey,” the man called over to him. Dan rolled his eyes.

“Dan, you can hear me? Oh, thank God. Is Gavin okay?” Geoff asked. Dan paused. It didn’t surprise him that Gavin was his first priority, and it didn’t bother him, either. When it came down to it, he would kill everyone in the Fake AH Crew before Gavin, and he was sure the feeling was mutual. What did bother him, though, was the answer to Geoff’s question.

“I’m not sure. I just woke up and he’s not in the cell with me. Did he not talk to you over the mic?” Dan asked uncertainly. There was a sigh on the other end of the line. 

“No. I think his microphone was broken in the van. His earpiece might still be intact, but I don’t know.” There was a pause, before Geoff continued. “Don’t worry, though, Dan. We’re on our way to get you guys out of there. One of the trackers is still working, so we should be there soon.”

“Sounds good,” Dan replied quietly, and Geoff fell silent. Dan sighed and turned, to make eye contact with the man in the opposite cell, who had his eyes narrowed at Dan. Dan raised an eyebrow at him. 

“Were you talking to someone?” the man asked. “Is someone coming to bust you out of here?” 

Dan wasn’t sure how much he should tell the guy, or how much the Family were listening in to, so he opted for a shrug. The man’s eyes lit up.

“Hey, when you’re getting out of here, could you, uh, help me out? I mean, maybe not bust me out with you or anything, but just unlock the door or something. I’m a pretty good fighter, anyway, so I could help you out.”

“I don’t even know your name,” Dan pointed out.

“It’s Ryan,” the man said without hesitation. Dan nodded at him. 

“I’m Dan,” he said. Ryan gave him a crooked smile. 

“Is that a yes, then?” he asked. Dan rolled his eyes.

“It’s a probably not,” Dan replied. Ryan paused, as if thinking about his answer.

“It wasn’t a no,” he decided. “I’ll take it.” 

The sound of footsteps down the hallway cut off their conversation, and Ryan quickly closed his cell window. Dan followed by example and waited with bated breath as the footsteps grew closer.

His cell door opened. Dan turned to the man waiting outside the door, keys in hand. Dan took one step towards him and froze as an alarm sounded.

The man looked up, just as surprised, but Dan was pretty sure there was only one person that could be. He shot his fist forward and hit the man square in the jaw, knocking him backwards. He threw another punch and the man went out cold. Dan reached down to pick up the keys, heart hammering in his chest. If that wasn’t the Fake AH Crew, he would probably be screwed in a second. He was probably going to be screwed anyway.

He stepped over the unconscious guard and tried several keys until he unlocked Ryan’s cell. Ryan grinned at him. 

“Your friends have good timing,” he commented. Dan rolled his eyes and started down the hall. Ryan paused, rooting the man’s body for a moment, before jogging to catch up with Dan. He fell into stride, knife in hand. 

“The guy has a knife, but no gun. What kind of guard has no gun?” Ryan muttered to himself.

They rounded a corner and immediately a guard down the corridor spotted them. She called out for assistance and reached in her jacket for a weapon. Ryan shot the knife out of his hand and hit her straight in the chest. She fell to the ground. 

“Holy shit,” Dan breathed. Ryan smirked.

“I told you I was a pretty good fighter,” he said. 

Several more guards came around the corner, and Dan and Ryan stepped behind the wall for cover. A storm of gunshots went off, and then silence. Dan and Ryan waited.

“Gavin?” a voice called quietly. “Dan?”

Dan stepped around the corner and saw Ray Narvaez Jr standing there, holding a gun in each hand. He noticed Dan and grinned. 

“Hey, you’re okay,” he said, before his smile faded. “Well, I mean, apart from the bruised face. But you’re alive, so, still pretty good.” He handed Dan one of his guns.

“Yeah, ‘m good,” Dan agreed. “Did you guys find Gavin or Monty?”

“Not yet, the others will tell us over the headsets if they do, though,” Ray assured him. Dan nodded, an uncomfortable feeling welling in his stomach. 

Ryan came around the corner. He noticed Ray at the same time Ray noticed him, and immediately both narrowed their eyes at each other. Dan frowned, looking between the two of them. 

“Do you guys know each other?” he asked uncertainly. 

“I don’t know… he seems familiar… what’s your name?” Ryan asked, cocking his head to the side. Ray furrowed his eyebrows, staring intently at Ryan. His eyes suddenly widened and he pointed his gun at Ryan’s head.

“You have got to be kidding me,” he said. “You’re supposed to be dead right now.” Dan raised an eyebrow at Ray, looking for an explanation. His head turned to Ryan as he spoke.

“Ahh. Now I know who you are,” Ryan said, nodding. “You’re one of Fink’s group. He told you I was dead, then?” 

“He goes by Ramsey now, actually,” Ray said with a scowl, but otherwise didn't answer the question. Dan sighed and quickly stepped between them, the sudden movement causing his leg to ache.

“Listen, I don’t have a bloody hell what the fuck you guys are talking about, but can we deal with this later? I’d like to find my friends and get out of here, and Ryan seems pretty capable of helping.”

Ray’s scowl deepened and Ryan smiled at him smugly. Ray narrowed his eyes and started walking down the hallway.

“Whatever. But if he stabs us in the back, don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he said darkly. Dan rolled his eyes and followed over Ray, Ryan trailing along beside him. 

They had only walked a few metres when Jack’s voice spoke in their ear. 

“Ray, Dan, you there? I think we’ve found Gavin.”


	4. 'Cos That's Just Who I Am This Week

Gavin woke up in a cold cell made of stone, and he wasn’t afraid. 

He was bloody _terrified_.

He scrambled to his feet and looked around at the four solid stone walls, the metal door the lack of anything that could be used to escape. The walls started to close in and he was breathing fast and shaking and he’d never been claustrophobic before but _God damn it_ , it had been years since he was in a situation like this and-

 _Calm down, Gavin_ , he chastised himself. He wasn’t going to be any use if he started to panic. He had to keep a level head, try and think of a way out. He was breathing normally now, his claustrophobia fading. He raised a hand to open the barred window on the metal door and noticed it shaking. He took a deep breath. 

The small window didn’t reveal anything of interest, just a dimly lit hall seemingly about as well kept as his cell. His eyes narrowed into the darkness and he noticed a metal door across from him. He turned his head to the left and the right, noting the row of cells that lined the corridor. 

“Dan? Monty?” he called out. He didn’t get an answer. He called their names again, but still no reply. Gavin sighed, his breath coming out shaky, and closed the window again. Either they weren’t in any of the cells, or they were still asleep.

His thoughts drifted to the Fake AH Crew, and he reached down to check his collar for his microphone. It was still there, on the inside of his shirt, but he could clearly see that some of the wires were broken, and he doubted it still worked. He ripped it off and threw it on the ground, letting out a frustrated groan.

Footsteps started down the hallway, and Gavin was trembling again, because bloody hell if he wasn’t panicked. He backed up into the cell and stared with wide eyes at the door, praying that the person wasn’t there for him. 

Gavin was never that lucky. 

The door swung open, and a woman dressed in the Family’s signature uniform stood waiting. Gavin had come to learn that all gangs had their sugnature, including the Fake AH, and The Resurrection’s symbol was still something that occasionally plagued his nightmares. The Mordell Family’s signature happened to be a black X, which as plastered over the front of their brown jacket, clearly fitted over a bulky bulletproof vest.

She took a step forward and Gavin backed up further into the cell, freezing when his back hit the wall. His breath was caught in his throat, heart hammering in his chest, and his mind kept conjuring up thoughts of a chair and a knife and _oh God I can’t I have to get out of here_ \- 

He forced himself to breathe out as he continued towards him. He had to concentrate, bloody hell, he was panicking again and it was just going to hinder him. His eyes flickered to the gun by her waist, trying to think of an escape. 

He knew that if it did come to torture, Gavin would rather die than give up either Dan or the Fake AH Crew, though he doubted that The Family were looking for information anyway. He had wronged them, he was going to pay – and Jesus Christ, The Family were definitely capable of making him pay. 

As it was, Gavin couldn’t see any chance of escape that wouldn’t end in him dead, so he let the woman push him out of the room. His only hope was that Dan was in a better position, or that his tracker was still working. It had been over two years, but still – the Crew wouldn’t leave him here… would they? 

He must have started to slow down, as the woman forcefully pushed the butt of her gun into the small of Gavin’s back.

“Move it,” she hissed, and Gavin quickened his pace. He continued to focus on his breathing as they walked, trying to remain calm. Who knows? Maybe the end of this corridor wasn’t an evil torture chamber used for murdering-

Gavin let out a gasp as a sharp ringing filled his ears and madly clutched at his left ear. The sound was so loud and high pitched, it was almost unbearable. He couldn’t think over the noise, and ended up stumbling to the ground, headache forming. 

“What is it? Get up!” the woman ordered. Gavin squeezed his eyes shut, trying to force the ringing from his mind, and at his lack of movement the woman hit the gun into the side of his ribs. _Hard_. 

Gavin grunted, the gun hitting against the bruises he had inevitably gained in the van. The ringing stopped, and he forced himself to climb to his feet and keep moving. Maybe he could stall, maybe he could wait it out, maybe he could bear it for a short while. Last time, they had come for him. They _would_ come for him. 

He had only taken two steps forward when the ringing started again, but he completely ignored it. He was pretty sure this woman was already agitated enough, and he didn’t need to give her any more reason to want to shoot him. 

The room at the end of the hallway was empty except for two metal chairs, facing each other. It wasn’t as terrible as Gavin’s mind had conjured up, but bloody hell, the blood staining the floor and chairs was enough to show that the lack of weapons wasn’t exactly reassuring. Gavin’s head was spinning, and he wasn’t sure if it was from the ringing in his ear or the fear of what was about to happen. He tried to remember to breathe. 

The woman shoved him down harshly into the bloodier of the two chairs and after handcuffing each wrist to an armrest left the room. Gavin watched her go. 

As soon as she was gone, Gavin slowly started to count down from ten in his head. The ringing had stopped, but he hadn’t realized how much of a distraction it had been until it was gone, and he was shaking again. _Stop it, Gavin. You have to focus, you have to get out of here. Dan and Monty need your help._

He tried to move the chair by pushing his feet off the ground, but it was clearly attached to the floor. He growled, looking for some way to pick the handcuffs. Gavin had never been very good at that particular skill, even after Monty had tried to teach him multiple times, and he wasn’t even sure if it was possible given the fact both his hands were cuffed, but fuck it, he was desperate.

A loud alarm sounded out, filling the room with noise and Gavin with hope. His mind flashed back to sitting in a similar chair in a different room, slightly brighter but equally as bloody. He quickly tried to force the thoughts away, but the alarms pushed the memories to the fore front of his mind, and he went back to that day-

_~ Edgar’s head had shot up at the sight of the alarm, cold eyes narrowing slightly. He pursed his lips and shot John a quick glance out of the corner of his eyes._

_“Ah. It seems we have visitors.”_

_Gavin’s stomach had lurched, somehow feeling relief and dread at the same time. He remembered John’s threat from earlier, his promise to kill him as soon as a Fake AH Crew member walked in, and found it almost impossible to keep a straight face._

_Edgar started towards the door, and Gavin took one last glance at the cow mask by his waist before focusing on the wall behind John’s face. John’s smirk was visible in his peripheral vision._

_“Well, how about that? Speak of the devil, ‘ey kid?”~_

“Gavin?” a familiar voice called out, snapping him out of his trance. “Gavin, are you here? Please be okay, fucking hell…” 

“Jack?” Gavin called out frantically, hands tightening into fists. “Jack! I’m in here!” 

The sound of footsteps fast approached outside the door, and there was a loud bang of the metal. Jack let out a curse.

“I can’t open it, Gav, but don’t worry. I’m going to call in the others through the headset, they’re looking for your friends.”

The ringing started up in Gavin’s ears again, and he let out a quiet groan. It faded as soon as it had arrived, and Gavin realized suddenly that his earpiece had been in his left ear. When Jack had started to speak over the earpiece, it had started to ring again. It must have broken when he was punched in the van. 

Gavin sat in silence for a few more moments, the only sound assuring him of Jack’s presence being his strained breathing from excessive exercise. Jack’s breathing returned to a normal pace quickly and he spoke up. 

“Jesus Christ, Gavin. I’m so glad you’re okay, dude. When your microphone broke, I was so scared, I thought-” Jack’s voice cracked, and he quickly coughed to cover it. “Whatever. Just- fuck, don’t do that again. Especially when we’ve just gotten you back.”

A warm feeling welled up in Gavin’s chest and a small smile crept up on his cheeks. Hearing Jack talking about him with so much concern, as cheesy as it was – God, if it didn’t make him feel better. He had missed them like crazy while he had been gone.

“I’ll try not to,” Gavin replied, a meek attempt at humour. “No more suicide missions.”

“Yeah, seriously. That plan was flawed from the start. Your friend isn’t too patient, huh?” Jack said, laughing lightly. “Michael’s said ‘I told you so’ at least ten times by now.” Gavin laughed, his smile growing bigger at the mention of Michael. 

More footsteps approached at a fast pace, and Michael’s voice called out. 

“Hey, Jack,” he said. “Where’s Gavin? Is he okay?” 

“He’s behind this door. Do you have anything to get it open with?”

“I think I have something… Gavin? Are you okay?” 

“I’m good, Michael,” Gavin called back. “You arrived before they did anything.” He heard Michael’s sigh of relief on the other side of the door. 

“Where’s the others?” Jack asked. 

“Geoff found someone who might be Monty, he said he’d meet up with us in a bit. I don’t know where Ray’s gone. He went down the left corridor, though, he should be here soon.” Gavin heard a creak, followed by a quiet curse from Michael.

“I think I’m going to have to blow it up… Gav, you’re not close to the door, are you?”

“No, you’re good to go,” Gavin confirmed. “Just… don’t make the explosion too big, or whatever.” Michael gave a small non-committal grunt on the other side of the door.

More footsteps started down the hallway, and Jack called out. 

“Ray! Thank God. Gavin’s behind the door, Michael’s just going to explode it open-”

“Yeah, okay, that’s great, Jack,” Ray interrupted impatiently. “I have Dan behind me, he’s just walking a bit slower because his leg is injured. But listen, there’s someone else, I should warn you-”

“Got it!” Michael interrupted, followed by a loud bang. Gavin winced at the sound, and when he looked back at the door, it was lying on the ground. Michael stormed in and immediately rushed to Gavin’s side. 

“Are you hurt? Are you hurt?” he demanded, cupping Gavin’s face in his hands. Gavin shook his head, smile wide, eyes wet with tears.

“What? What is it? You look like you’re about to cry, are you hurt? Your face is all bruised and shit-”

“No, Michael, it’s not that,” he disagreed. “It’s just… you _came _.” Gavin hadn't realized how scared he had been that they wouldn't come for him until then. And Michael cared, too, that was evident. When Gavin had come back, and Michael had acted hostile towards him… well, he shouldn’t have expected any different, but he had been afraid that Michael didn’t care about him anymore.__

__Michael must have realized the closeness of the situation, as he dropped his hands, his concerned expression fading to one of awkwardness. He quickly started on Gavin’s cuffs, avoiding meeting his eyes._ _

__“Of course we came, dipshit. You’re part of the Crew,” he muttered. Gavin blinked away the tears and smiled at him. Michael looked up for a second and their eyes met. He returned the smile._ _

__“What the fuck… Ray, is that…” Jack said from the hallway, voice unbelieving. Ray let out a small sigh._ _

__“Yeah, that was kind of the thing I wanted to warn you about. Dan seemed to have picked up a… uh, friend, on the way.”_ _

__“Hey, Jack.” The voice caused both Michael and Gavin’s head to shoot up, looking at the door. Gavin couldn’t exactly place the voice to a face, but he did know that the voice caused a feeling of dread to spread throughout his body. Michael returned to unlocking Gavin’s second cuff with a slight frown. With a small click, Gavin was free._ _

__“No, you’re… Geoff told me, you’re dead.” Jack’s voice was shaky, confused. “Geoff killed you.”_ _

__And Gavin didn't have to look, because Jack’s words already told him enough, but he did anyway. He had to confirm it, because he couldn’t believe it otherwise. He climbed up out of the chair and started towards the door, breath caught in his throat-_ _

__And sure enough, there he was, Edgar himself-_ _

__Mister Ryan Haywood._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah. I don't post an update in over a week, and then here's another one two days later. I'm weird like that.
> 
> I have so many long sentences in this one. Gavin talks enough as it is, and then when's he's panicked, his thoughts just kind of go _awertyuhjiugfgh_ so... But hey, some Mavin! Kind of. I mean, they were all happy to see each other, so I'm pretty sure that's a step in the right direction. XD
> 
> Also, I don't know if there's anyone reading this who hasn't read Put On Your War Paint, but if there is then just comment any questions about the whole Ryan thing, if you're confused... I'm pretty sure I explained most of what was up with Ryan in the first one, so I don't think there's many questions I can't answer for fear of spoilers. If I don't answer your question, it's probably because there's some potential future spoilers and shit. :3 
> 
> Okay, so I've rambled on enough. Hope you guys like this one!


	5. Lie In The Grass, Next To The Mausoleum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter, this one on time, too! I mean, it's been exactly a week since the last one, I think... anyways, have a chapter. Go on. Take it.
> 
> Okay, I'm going to shut up now, so you can start reading the chapter. Bye. ^.^

Ray had about a million questions, and most of them involved something to do with _how the fuck the dead guy was very much not dead_. Again, he should probably add, since if his calculations were correct (and Ray would be the first to admit that math was hard, but he wasn’t such an idiot that he didn’t know how to count), then this was the _third_ time someone had seemingly risen from the dead. That shit just wasn’t normal. 

“Can someone please tell me what’s going on?” Dan asked from beside Ray. Michael clenched his fists, expression darkening as he turned to Jack. 

“I was going to ask the same thing,” he said. Jack gave an exasperated sigh at Michael’s accusation, but it was clear Jack didn’t know anything. He looked more confused than anyone else in the room, trying to piece together what fact he had wrong that meant that Ryan could still be alive. 

When Ryan spoke, it was directed at Gavin. “I was told you were dead.”

“I was told the same about you,” Gavin replied, voice shaky. Ray could see the nerves in him, half hiding behind Michael to place distance between himself and Ryan, eyes wide.

More footsteps approached from down another hallway, and everyone turned to look as Geoff emerged from a hallway beside Jack. He grinned when he saw Gavin and Dan, but the smile quickly evaporated when he saw Ryan. Ray waited for the confusion to cross his face, the questions to blurt out of his mouth.

“I warned you what I would do if you came back,” Geoff said, eyes narrowed, and Ray stared at him. That had not been what he was expecting. Geoff had _known_ that Ryan was alive? Of course he had, there was no other way that Ryan could have been alive if Geoff hadn’t killed him. But why _hadn’t_ Geoff killed him? And why had he lied to the crew about it?

“Geoff Fink – or rather, Geoff Ramsey, as I hear you’re going by now,” Ryan greeted, a cold smile on his face. “Was there a reason for the change, or did you just decide to mix it up a bit?” Ray noted the venom in his voice as he spoke – venom he hadn’t noticed when he had talked to any of the others.

Geoff’s eyes flickered to the gun by his waist, and Ryan noticed too. He leaped into action, and Ray found himself being tugged by the collar towards Ryan. Geoff immediately took out his gun at Ryan’s movement, but Ryan already had his knife against Ray’s throat. He used his free hand to pry the gun from Ray’s hand and pointed it at Jack. 

Ray silently cursed himself for letting Ryan get the jump on him. He should have been more alert, but the lack of attack from him on the journey over with Dan had lulled him into… not a sense of security, exactly, but enough to put his guard down. He couldn’t imagine being so foolish when he was a lone mercenary, but he had grown accustomed to having a team to back him up. It was a stupid mistake. 

“Let Ray go, he has nothing to do with this,” Geoff said, clenching his jaw. Ryan waved the gun in the air dramatically before returning its position at Jack’s head.

“I’m just trying to save my own ass, here!” he protested. “I don’t _want_ to hurt the guy!” Ray rolled his eyes. Was that supposed to make him feel better about the fact that a psycho had a knife to his throat?

“You’re the one who tortured Gavin and tried to kill us all for _nothing_!” Jack spat out, and Ray could see anger and betrayal flash behind his glasses. Of course, Jack and Ryan had been good friends before Ryan had supposedly died… the first time… and God, this was getting too confusing. It was hurting Ray’s brain. 

Ryan’s expression darkened. “It wasn’t for nothing,” he disagreed, anger rising in his tone. “If it makes you feel any better, it’s only Geoff I want dead. I don’t have anything against you.” It didn’t make Ray feel better. 

Ryan’s head turned to Gavin, and Ray saw the guy freeze, still half hidden behind Michael.

“And I _am_ sorry about what Jonathan did to you. It was necessary for my revenge, but… I don’t know if it was worth it.” Gavin narrowed his eyes at Ryan and quickly looked away. Michael spat in Ryan’s direction.

“Fuck off,” he hissed. Ryan opened his mouth to reply, but seemed to think better of it. Instead, he decided to start an awkward walk down the hall, taking Ray with him. Ray stumbled slightly as he walked backwards, but managed to keep his footing.

Geoff went to step forward, but Ryan quickly turned the gun on him. Ray stiffened up as the knife pressed down further on his neck, wincing as the blade cut the skin. Geoff’s eyes glanced down to where blood was now trickling out of the wound, and he lowered his own gun. 

“I don’t want any trouble,” Ryan warned, continuing down the hallway until they turned a corner. Ryan shifted his position so that he was walking forward again, but kept the gun pointed behind in case any of The Fake AH Crew decided to approach. They didn’t.

Another corner and Ryan forced the two of them into a run, and then they were outside, and Ray _still had a fucking knife against his throat_. He wasn’t sure how long this hostage situation was going to last, but he didn’t like feeling so helpless, so reliant on others to save him. 

“I actually am sorry about this,” Ryan told him as they walked along the long abandoned pier. “I know you think I’m completely mad, but-”

“Stop trying to sell me your sob story, I couldn’t care less,” Ray snapped back. Ryan paused, and let the knife drop from around Ray’s neck. Ray furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, but he wasn’t going to complain. He quickly placed his hand against his neck, lightly dabbing against the bleeding cut. 

Ryan stepped away, still watching Ray, and Ray was all too aware of the gun he still had in his hand. Ray turned to him and raised an eyebrow at him.

“Am I free to go?” he asked, not bothering to keep the sour tone out of his voice. “Or do you want me to relay a warning back to Geoff and the others?”

Ryan frowned slightly, seeming almost upset that Ray was pissed at him. Not that Ray could fathom why. He barely even knew this dude, who had just held him captive with the threat of death. Was he supposed to feel anything _other_ than anger towards him?

“A proposition, actually,” Ryan replied. Ray blinked. That was… not what he was expecting.

“You’re clearly not exactly on good terms with the Mordell Family,” Ryan continued. “And neither am I. I had been trying to take them down for a while when they caught me, but I clearly need a bit more manpower to help me.”

“If you actually think the crew’s going to help you after everything you’ve done, you’re fucking nuts,” Ray scoffed. Ryan pursed his lips. 

“Tell them to consider it,” he said finally. “And if not all of them, then anyone who is willing. Even just having someone as capable as you on my team would be a great help.” He went to walk away, but quickly turned back again to add on more.

“I’ve already told you I had my reasons,” he said. “Ask Geoff about Lucy. Or, hell, even ask Jack.” 

And Ryan turned away, leaving Ray just as pissed as ever, and a bit more confused. 

***

Gavin watched as Dan prepared a meal in the kitchen, before his gaze travelled back to Monty across the table. Monty smiled at him, and Gavin returned it, though he doubted it looked genuine. He was bloody thrilled about Monty being out, but he couldn’t help notice the burn marks just visible under his collar, and the way he winced when he moved suddenly. 

“You’re an idiot,” Gavin decided. Dan let out a quiet laugh from the kitchen, and Monty rolled his eyes 

“You’re one to talk,” Monty said. “I was just saving your asses, wasn’t I?”

“We told you to leave, you were the one who was adamant about staying,” Dan retorted. “You also promised that you’d be able to take them on.”

“Well, I think I did fairly well,” said Monty. “I mean, it was me against two criminal gangs, and I lasted over a week. I was fairly happy with the result.”

“You didn’t know that we could get you out of there, if it wasn’t for the Fake AH-”

Gavin was interrupted as the door violently shook on its hinges. Monty stood up immediately, and Dan grabbed the gun on the counter. Gavin stared.

The door shook again, followed by an angry shout on the other side of the door. 

“Gavin Free, you piece of shit! Open this door right now, I know you’re in there!”

Dan and Monty turned to look at Gavin, of whom the colour had drained out of his face. 

“Who is it?” Monty asked quietly. “Should we be getting weapons? Is it a Mordell?”

“Much worse,” Gavin assured him, sighing quietly. “It’s Lindsay.”

“GAVIN FREE, I SWEAR TO- Oh, sorry, Mam, I didn’t mean to upset you, I was just trying to get my friend’s attention… yep, sorry, my bad. I’ll keep it down.” Gavin shook his head lightly and made his way to the door. 

Sure enough, the red head was on the other side of the door, a light blush on her cheeks. She scowled when she saw Gavin. 

“God damn it, Gavin,” she said. “An old lady just gave out to me for yelling at you – which I wouldn’t have had to do if you had just fucking told me you were alive.” 

She started punching Gavin in the stomach, not painfully, but hard enough to push him back. He stumbled backwards, spluttering and trying to protect his stomach with his arms.

“Ahh! God, Lindsay, I swear, you and Michael must be related or something, since he had the same reaction as-”

“That’s another thing! Not only did you disappear for what, two, three years? But I had to hear that you weren’t dead from Michael, because you apparently didn’t think I was important enough to tell yourself!” she spat out, still attacking him. The small of Gavin’s back hit the table and he winced.

“Look, sorry, Lindsay, seriously I-”

“Woah, lady, listen,” Monty interrupted. Gavin sent him a look, warning him to back off, but he either didn’t see it or ignored it. “I don’t know who you are, but you can’t attack Gavin like that. I won’t let you.”

Lindsay’s gaze turned into a glare, and she crossed her arms.

“I’m part of the Fake AH Crew, and I’ve known Gavin since we were teenagers. Who the fuck are _you_?” she retorted, narrowing her eyes.

“Monty Oum,” said Monty. “I’m the one Gavin decided to stick around with instead of telling you that he was okay.” 

Gavin turned to stare at Monty. Monty was probably only saying that to piss Lindsay off for hurting Gavin, but it did mean he was okay with him saying that. _It wasn’t like that_ , he hadn’t just decided to _abandon_ the crew.

Lindsay’s eyes widened at Monty’s words, and for a second she looked hurt, before her expression transformed into complete anger. She kicked out a leg to hit Monty, who avoided it easily. He sent his own kick back, followed by another in quick succession. Lindsay ducked under the first one and deflected the second with her wrist, wincing at the impact. 

Lindsay stepped back, weighing up her opponent, and Gavin took the opportunity to step between them.

“Guys, knock it off-” He was interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing. Lindsay frowned and pulled out her phone, checking the contact before answering it. She placed it against her ear.

“Hey, Michael, what’s- Oh, yeah, I mean, I kind of punched him a couple of times, but he’s okay… Why? I mean, sure, we’ll be over but… Dan and Gavin, yeah? Bye, Mi-” she stuttered over his name, her eyes widening as she hung up the phone. When she put it back in her pocket, she had a small frown on her face. Gavin furrowed his eyebrows.

“What is it?” he asked. “What’s wrong with Michael?”

“I don’t… it’s just something he said. Just before he hung up, he told me to have a _funky_ day.”

“What? What’s wrong with that? Well, apart from the fact that it’s really bloody weird, but…”

“So, before you left, our code to say that something’s up was Tower of Pimps, but then there was an incident when we actually had to use it and it turned out that it’s not that easy to slip it into casual conversation,” Lindsay explained. “We decided on funky instead.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me, Tower of Pimps was great!” Gavin said. “Funky is easier to say than Tower of Pimps?”

“In fairness, it would have seemed pretty weird if he said to have a Tower of Pimps day,” Lindsay pointed out.

“Okay, that’s great and all, but it actually sounds like your friend is in some shit right now, so don’t you think that-” Dan started, but Monty cut him off.

“It’s clearly a trap. The Family told Michael to call over Dan and Gavin so they could get him, and the code word was warning us not to come. They probably followed him after we left the Family’s base.” 

“We still have to help him!” Lindsay exclaimed. She looked around and at the uncertain faces, and turned to stare at Gavin. “Right?”

“Of course,” Gavin agreed. His mind was racing, his thoughts imagining arriving at the apartment to see Michael’s dead body on the floor-

“You don’t have to come with us,” Gavin added, shaking his head to wash away the nauseous image. “But Lindsay and I are going.”

Dan and Monty exchanged glances, and Monty sighed.

“We’re going,” he decided. “Because I know you two can’t handle yourselves.”

Lindsay glared at him, but they left the apartment without another word.


	6. I'm Just A Notch In Your Bedpost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter, another day. Fun fact: Exam years suck. Just putting that out there.
> 
> Oh and hey, I posted a new story the other day, Hope For The Best. It has nothing to do with the GTA AU... it's a High School AU, but you know. Just thought I would put it out there.
> 
> Anyway, now you can stop reading this, and get on with the chapter. :')

Ray spoke quietly over the phone, eyes watching Michael angrily play Halo on the sofa in front of him. 

“Did Geoff mention why he never told us about Haywood?” Ray asked. “Or why he didn’t kill him in the first place?” There was a pause on the other end of the phone.

“He just said he couldn’t bring himself to kill Ryan, that’s all I know. But, it doesn’t answer so many questions; like why Ryan was only angry at Geoff, not me.” Jack sighed. Ray had been wondering about that, too. He was starting to think there was more to Ryan’s revenge than just him going psycho. 

His mind went back to their short conversation on the pier, and before he could stop himself he was asking Jack about it.

“Jack, do you know a Lucy?” 

“A Lucy? You’re going to have to be more specific,” Jack said. Ray furrowed his eyebrows. 

“Just someone Haywood mentioned, he said to ask you or Geoff about her,” he explained. Jack didn’t respond immediately, looking for the right words. He mumbled something inaudible, before he started to speak louder.

“I don’t know if you remember, but after we thought Ryan was dead – the second time, I guess – I told you about his fiancé.” 

“Oh, yeah, she got murdered by some rival in the area, right? What was his name again?”

“Westly,” Jack said. “Yeah, after that, Ryan joined the crew. He was a bit… he had temper issues, basically. Not sure if he was entirely stable the entire time. Her death really shook him.” Jack paused again, but Ray already knew what he was going to say.

“His fiancé was Lucy,” Ray finished. Jack made a grunt of agreement over the phone line.

“So why did he want me to ask you about her?” Ray muttered, mostly to himself.

“I don’t know, man, but I’m going to head. Call me if you need anything,” Jack replied. Ray sighed and hung up the phone. He placed it on the counter and made his way over to Michael, slumping into the seat beside him.

“How’s it going?” Ray asked, watching Michael take the other team’s flag.

“I’m fucking pummeling them,” Michael replied without hesitation. “These fuckheads don’t know what hit them.” Ray laughed lightly. 

A click of a lock had Ray at his feet, and Michael stood up at his uneasiness. Ray walked over to the counter and grabbed his gun, which was still not put away after saving Gavin, Dan and Monty. He pointed it at the door, and both he and Michael waited in silence.

The door opened, and a man in a familiar brown uniform walked in. A large X was painted over the front, marking the symbol of the Mordell Family. Ray cursed and pointed his gun at the intruder, who didn’t appear to be armed.

“Get out of our apartment, you asshole,” Michael hissed. “You’re outnumbered.”

“Okay, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” the man responded, his tone too demeaning for Ray’s liking. Ray cocked his gun and scowled at the man. 

“Get the fuck out of here,” he said, repeating Michael’s order. The man raised an eyebrow at him, a sly grin on his face. He clicked his fingers and a red light appeared on Michael’s chest through the large window. Ray looked down to see a similar red dot on his own chest.

“I wouldn’t do anything hasty, if I were you,” the man said, taking out his own gun from his jacket. “I’ve got people just waiting to shoot you on the other side of my mic.” He gestured his gun towards Michael.

“You, call Free and Gruchy. Get them over here, or we’ll shoot your partner.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Michael grumbled, angrily rooting through his pockets for his phone. Ray’s eyes turned to stare out the window as he searched, eyes scanning for the snipers. He could see one figure, probably a woman judging by the figure, though they had a ski mask over their face. Ray caught a flash of blonde hair, and about a million curse words ran through his head.

 _God damn it_. He knew he had seen her on the rooftops when Dan and Gavin were caught, he fucking _knew_ it was her. He wondered if Barbara knew that it was him on the other side of the rifle. She probably didn’t care either way – money was money, after all. 

He turned his attention back to Michael, who was finishing the call. “Yeah, Dan and Gavin. Okay, bye, Lindsay, thanks. Have a funky day. Bye.” Ray’s eyes widened at Michael’s message to have a funky day, and turned to their captor, though he didn’t seem to think anything of it. Good. 

“Give me the phone,” the man ordered, and Michael tossed it to him without hesitation. The man nodded and slipped it into his pocket, before pointing his gun back at Michael.

“Well, I guess we don’t have any use for you now. Snipers, go ahead-”

“Whoa, whoa, _whoa_ ,” Michael butted in, his urgent tone giving away his fear. “Don’t go crazy here – we’re cooperating here! Ray and I, we can be useful, we can be hostages! Seriously, I think that-”

“Alright, fair point,” the man agreed, nodding as though it made sense. Ray had no idea how Michael had just managed that – his rationalizing had seemed like complete bullshit to Ray. This guy did seem a bit… inexperienced, he supposed. Either way, he wasn’t going to complain. 

He walked over to Ray first, roughly taking his gun from him. He pushed him down to his knees and ordered Michael to do the same, before tying their arms behind their backs with zip ties. Happy with his work, he stepped back, gun aimed at the door. 

Ray’s eyes glanced back over to the window, thinking of who was on the other side. He shouldn’t have been surprised Barb was working for them. Hell, three years ago, Ray would have been in the same position – The Mordell Family had been his main employers for the majority of his career. Though he had technically been freelance, there had been a time when the Family were his only employers, and he knew he was close to being offered a full time job several times. He would have taken it, too. 

“So, where’s the boss man?” Ray asked, and Michael sent him a look that roughly translated to _shut the fuck up, you’ll get us killed_. Ray doubted he was going to get a straight answer from this guy, but it was worth a shot.

“What’s to say you’re not looking at him?” the man asked smugly. Ray sighed. He had been right about not getting a straight answer. This guy was starting to piss him off.

“Okay, stop acting like your big shit,” Ray said, his frustration quickly growing. “Your smug grin has been pissing me off since you arrived, and we both know that you only joined the Family within the last three years, because otherwise I would have heard of you, so _no_ , you’re not the leader. Hell there is probably your first big job.” Ray could see the man’s anger rising. 

“You should ask about a Narvaez once you get back,” Ray finished, before adding a quick, “Right in twenty,” under his breath. He turned to see if Michael had heard him. Michael gave him a small nod to indicate he understood. The corners of Ray’s lips turned up; right in twenty; go to the right in twenty seconds.

The man glared at Ray with clenched teeth. He waved his gun in Ray’s direction.

“Listen here, you little shit. You better shut the fuck up, because I only need one person for a hostage situation, and you are pissing me off right now.” Ray blanked him out, concentrating on the mental clock that he had been counting down. It reached zero, and he pushed of the ground to the left.

His legs swing around, hitting against the man’s shins and tripping him up. Ray scrambled further to the left, hiding behind a counter out of the view of the large window, just as shots rang out. The glass shattered and Ray raised his arms to protect his face.

The shots stopped, and Ray looked for Michael. He was in a similar position to Ray at the other side of the room, though Ray could see some blood on his slice. His heart leapt into his throat.

The man let out a groan and slowly started to make his way to his feet. He was somehow untouched by the bullets, though glass still littered his body. He stumbled to his feet just as Ray’s eyes landed on the on the floor. He made a mad dive for it, and the man placed his foot on it. Ray slipped it out from underneath but the man grabbed it with one hand and the two wrestled each other for the weapon.

They were only interrupted when the door burst open and Monty rushed in. He sent a kick to the back of the man’s knee, causing him to let go of the gun and stumble backwards. Monty grabbed the man’s collar and rushing shoved him against the ground. The man went to stand up but Monty threw a punch into his face, smashing his skull against the ground. He was out cold.

Ray sighed and let the gun drop to the ground. Gavin rushed in the door soon after, to Michael’s side in an instant. Ray could blatantly see Michael still cared for Gavin, even if only slightly. He still remember the months after Gavin first disappeared, and they weren’t pretty for his best friend and roommate.

“Oww, Gavin, you’re leaning on the wound, you moron!” Michael yelled. Ray rolled his eyes.

“Oh, sorry, Michael!” Gavin squawked. “Bloody hell! Did you get shot?”

“No, dumbass, I got cut my glass on my arm, I think I’ll need stitches. I have a couple of scratches on my face, too.” Ray smiled slightly to hear that Michael wasn’t severely wounded. Gavin frowned, his eyes taking in the cuts over Michael’s face. Michael coughed awkwardly, and Gavin quickly looked away, flushing.

“Lindsay and Dan took out the snipers,” Monty said, and immediately Ray was on his feet again.

“What? Are they dead? Did they kill the snipers?” Ray demanded. Monty raised an eyebrow at Ray’s tone.

“Jesus fucking Christ, you Fake AH are all temper and no patience, I swear. Lindsay was like that earlier, too-”

“Stop bashing on Lindsay,” Michael interrupted sharply.

“Are the snipers alive?” Ray repeated again, just as impatient. Monty sighed. Ray could see Gavin and Michael looking at him oddly, and realized that he was probably attracting too much attention to the fact that he was worried. He wasn’t exactly keen to tell them exactly how well he knew their enemy.

“I don’t know if they’re still alive, I’m not there, am I? I told them to try and keep them alive in case you wanted to interrogate them or something, but if they needed to, they would have shot them.” Ray scowled, an uncomfortable feeling rattling around in his stomach. He picked up Michael’s phone from the man’s unconscious body and started to dial in a number.

“Someone call Geoff and Jack,” Ray mumbled. “I’m calling Lindsay.” He walked out of the room.

***

Gavin tried to block out the screams from the other room by bobbing his leg up and down. It wasn’t working. 

They were back in their old base – a small three bedroomed house that had long since been cleared out. The only furniture still in the house was in the bathrooms, in the kitchen, and the sofa Gavin was sitting on – oh, and the chairs in Geoff’s old room. 

Another scream sounded from down the hall, and Gavin flinched. He was completely alone in the room, since Dan and Monty had gone to fix Dan’s limp, and Michael had gone with Lindsay to get the glass wound patched up.

Jack walked into the kitchen, face white and a grim expression on his face. He sat beside Gavin and mustered up a smile. Gavin returned it, though it was probably even less convincing than Jack’s. Jack sighed.

“We’ll get some information out of him eventually,” Jack assured him. “And if not, we still have the two snipers. You and Dan will be okay.”

“I know,” Gavin replied quietly. It wasn’t worry that was upsetting him. It was the sounds of a man being tortured in the other room, by Gavin’s friends. _Because_ of Gavin. 

Ray walked in then, interrupting their conversation. He looked worn out, but not as rattled as Jack, and gave the two of them a toothy grin. For not the first time, Gavin wondered what kind of jobs Ray had taken before he joined the Fake AH Crew. 

“I told Geoff, and I’ll tell you guys,” he said. “The guy doesn’t know shit. He’s not that high up on the food chain – certainly nowhere near the leader. He wasn’t even part of the Family three years ago.”

“You weren’t part of Fake AH three years ago, and I’d say you’re pretty high up,” Jack retorted. “Higher up than Kdin, Jeremy and Matt, anyway, and they’ve been with us for longer.”

“That’s different,” Ray said, trying to find the words to explain himself. “The Mordell Family… it’s not like that. You have to go through intense training, work your way up from the bottom – and there’s way more of them, too. We only have about ten guys, these guys have, like, fifty.”

“Still, if he was appointed to Gavin and Dan’s case, then he must know-” 

“I agree with Ray,” Gavin mumbled, if only to stop hearing the screams from the other room. “I think we should stop.”

Jack frowned slightly. “It’s not going to make a difference, though. We’ll still have to interrogate the two snipers if we don’t get information from this guy. What were their names, Joel and-”

“Barbara,” Ray finished quickly. “No, they’ll know even less than the guy in the other room. They were almost definitely just guns for hire. That’s the kind of jobs I did for them, when I did that sort of stuff.”

Jack sighed again and rubbed his beard. “But then what do we do? We have no information, no leads…”

“We wait, we protect Gavin and Dan, we hide them,” Ray replied simply. “It’s what they asked us to do, we’re not obligated to do anything else.”

Gavin wondered if he should mention that the Family were probably going to be going for the Fake AH Crew by now as well, but decided it was probably a bad idea.

“Alright,” Jack said reluctantly. “I guess I’ll go tell Geoff to kill them, then.” Gavin watched Jack walk down the hallway, and Ray quickly grow fidgety. 

“Why do I have the feeling you’re not telling us something?” Gavin asked. Ray blinked and turned to Gavin. 

“What do you mean?” he said.

“I don’t know,” Gavin mused. “You look… nervous.” Ray gave him a bewildered look. He flinched at the sound of a gunshot.

“I’ll be back,” he muttered, walking down the hallway. Gavin watched him go with a sigh, before returning his gaze to his shaking leg. A few seconds passed before his head shot up again. Ray let out a loud swear from down the hallway. “ _Well_ , fuck.”


	7. But You're Just A Line In A Song

Barbara wasn’t pleased to say that it wasn’t the first time she woke up tied to a chair, blindfolded. Her hands maneuvered around the rope, trying to locate the knot, and she let out a disgruntled sigh at her findings. The binds were good, almost as good as if she had done them herself. 

A loud scream from her right made her jump slightly. She rolled her eyes under the blindfold at getting startled, and instead directed her attention to figuring out who the scream belonged to.

Hushed voices started to speak from somewhere in front of her. Barbara was getting sick of this whole blindfolded thing. It was times like these where echolocation would be pretty fucking helpful. She had read an article once, about someone who lost their sight and learned to use echolocation, so it was possible. Well, probably. She didn’t make a habit of believing everything she read on the internet.

“The blonde one’s awake,” a voice murmured. Barbara’s head slowly tilted in the direction the noise was coming from.

“Doesn’t make a difference,” another voice decided, this one not as low pitched. “We still work on this guy. We’ll move onto her if he still doesn’t give us anything.”   
Barbara flinched again when another scream erupted from the person beside her. She was pretty sure she recognised the voice, now; it was Harry, the guy who was supposed to take out Free and Gruchy. She’d never liked the guy – too excitable, too egotistical, and way too sarcastic. It seemed that his job went about as well as Joel and hers. 

“I’m going to head out,” the lower voice said shakily. A door opened and closed, and the only sound to accompany her thoughts was Harry’s screams. 

She started to work on her bonds. It was probably going to take her longer than she would like, but as long as Harry kept them entertained, she should be okay. Besides, she could handle a bit of torture.

She continued her work, her mind thinking back to her captors. They didn’t sound like she had expected Free and Gruchy to sound, she had been told they were British. They could have been members of the Crew that Free had once belonged to, she supposed, the people she had been aiming at before she got hit over the head. 

The door opened again, and Barbara froze just s her first wrist broke free. Footsteps left the room, and the door shut again. Harry’s screams continued, so Barbara assumed there was still someone in the room with her. 

She cautiously moved her hand over to her other wrist, working to free it. She didn’t like not being able to see if she was about to get caught, but taking off her blindfold would be a dead giveaway. Still, maybe she should strike while the guy was preoccupied. She didn’t know if there was anyone else in the room, though, so decided not to chance it. Fuck, echolocation would really come in handy about now.

She could use backup. She wondered if Joel was in there with her, and if he was still awake. Still alive might be the better question, but Barbara had better things to worry about – like her own life, for example. Her other hand was free, and she carefully placed the rope over her wrists again to make it look as though she was still tied to the chair. 

The door opened again. The low voice was back, this time with news that Barbara neither expected nor wanted to hear.

“They don’t think they’re going to talk, they said we should kill them,” the man informed, sounding uncomfortable with the situation. Good to know her captors would at least feel some shred of guilt over this, at least. 

Harry’s screams stopped, and for a second Barbara thought he was dead, but it was soon replaced with heavy breathing and soft whimpers. The second voice started to talk.

“Alright,” he said reluctantly. “If they’re sure. Pass me a gun, would you?”

Barbara’s hands twitched against the armrests, unsure of when to strike. There was a pause, followed by the sound of a gunshot. Barbara tensed up to stop herself from flinching. 

The cold butt of a gun pressed against her temple. It was now or never, she supposed. She moved fast, one hand immediately pointing the gun away from her head just as a shot rang out, the other pushing the blindfold up from her eyes. She was glad she had waited to strike – the only reason she had pulled than manoeuvre off was because she had caught them by surprise.

She wrestled the gun from the man’s hand and used her other hand to drag him closer by the collar. He swore and struggled to get free, but she kept her grip. She tugged him around so he was facing the opposite direction, the movement causing him to let go of the gun. Her legs were still tied to the chair, so she had to force the man down to his knees beside her and placed the gun against the side of his head.

Her eyes flickered to the other man in the room, surprised he hadn’t attacked. She soon realized why – at some point during the commotion Joel had gotten up and had his own gun pointed at the man. 

“Nice beard,” Barbara commented. The man grunted in response. Her eyes met Joel’s and he gave her a crooked smile. Her finger sat on the trigger.

“Count of three?” she suggested. Joel rolled his eyes. 

“No need to be so fucking melodramatic. Just pull the fucking-”

The door opened again and Barbara’s head whipped around to face it. She hoped the intruder didn’t have a gun, or this situation was going to get a lot more awkward. She did not want to get stuck in a stalemate. 

She made a double take at the figure that had entered. Holy shit, was that-

“ _Welp_ , fuck,” Ray said awkwardly.

“Ray?” she said. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Let’s just take it easy, yeah? No one needs to get shot just yet.”

The man that Barbara was pointing a gun at seemed about as surprised as she was, though for different reasons.

“You know these dickheads?” he asked, glaring at Ray. Ray turned to the man and shrugged his shoulders, a sheepish smile on his face. The man scowled.

As far as Barbara could tell, Ray had been fully aware that she was about to get shot, and didn’t do anything to stop it. She wasn’t sure if she should be offended that he had basically offered her up to be killed. She liked to think that if it had been the other way around, she would have saved him.

Well, unless the money was right…

“Does someone want to explain what the fuck is going on here?” the ginger bearded man said, looking from Ray to the mustached guy at the end of Barbara’s gun. Ray’s eyes trailed over Harry’s corpse, still slumped in his chair, before returning his gaze to the floor.

“Yeah, umm… Barb, this is Geoff and Jack, members of the Fake AH Crew. Geoff, Jack, she’s Barbara… I think I mentioned her before. We used to work together a lot.”

“What about the guy with a gun to my head?” Jack said through clenched teeth. Ray shot a quick glance over and quickly looked away, a blush rising in his cheeks.

“Oh, uh, yeah. That’s Joel. He’s my ex.” Barbara tried to hold back a bite of laughter at that. She had forgotten that the two had gone out – it had been a few years ago, but only about a month before Ray went off the radar. Well, that explained why Joel had been so quiet since Ray had entered.

Geoff and Jack seemed stunned by that revelation. Jack’s glances darted between Ray and Geoff, seeing what would happen next. Geoff, on the other hand, simply stared at Ray, mouth agape. And then he started laughing. Barbara rolled his eyes at him. She was all for staying calm with a gun to your head, but laughing? She was pretty sure that was a sign of insanity, or something. Not that she would ever do that.

(Well, except for that one time, but that pun had been fucking hilarious – even if Ray had insisted it was her worst one yet. The guy with a gun at her head didn’t seem to find it that funny, either, but to each his own or whatever.)

“How the _fuck_ is that guy your ex?” Geoff finally managed to get out between laughs. “He’s like, what, thirty five? Forty? You’re only twenty five now, and you met us three years ago, so you would have only been twenty two at the time. No way.”

“I’m forty three, actually,” Joel said, sounding pretty pleased that Geoff had assumed he was younger. Geoff shot a glance over to him, but otherwise ignored the comment.

“Hey, I never said it was…like… a _normal_ relationship,” Ray said. “I mean, we killed people for a living. It’s not usually age gap in our relationship that people find weird about our life choices.” Geoff looked like he wanted to further the discussion, but decided to let the subject drop. 

Barbara looked up at Ray, her eyes flickering over his shoulder when she saw movement. A face appeared, scruffy eyes and a larger than average nose, matching the picture she had been shown of Free. She held up her gun and shot at him. He quickly ducked out of sight behind Ray, letting out a loud squawk as he did so.

“Whoa, calm down! Seriously, no one needs to get shot here!” Ray yelled, but Barbara was too busy to pay attention to him at that moment. Geoff had taken his chance with the gun no longer pointed at him. He swung his elbow around to hit her in the face. Her chair wobbled precariously on its hind legs, before stabling onto all fours.

Geoff leapt towards her and a shot rang out, though she wasn’t sure if it was from her own gun. Barbara’s chair finally gave in and it fell backwards, the back of it snapping against the floor. Ray was yelling again, telling Geoff to stop.

The two of them began a fierce tug of war over the gun, causing another two shots to go off and ricochet off the walls in the process. Barbara let out a quiet curse as the man began to overpower her, pushing the gun closer to her face. She was using all her strength to push it away, but she wasn’t keen on how close it was getting.

Another shot went off, narrowly missing her face, and she flinched. The shock was enough to loosen her grip and Geoff managed to take the gun off of her. He aimed it directly at her forehead.

“Geoff, stop!” Ray pleaded. “Don’t!”

Geoff pulled the trigger, and a silence filled the air. Barbara winced, then realised she was still alive with a slight frown. Geoff pulled the trigger again. Nothing but the click of an empty chamber. Barbara let out the breath she was holding in.

“Everyone calm the fuck down, we can talk this through,” Ray said. 

“Sure, after we kill these two fuckers,” Geoff agreed. He rolled his eyes at Ray’s expression. “She tried to shoot Gavin, she was hired to shoot you; am I the only one remembering this?”

“Can we at least get the gun away from my head?” suggested Jack. Barbara raised her hand.

“I second that,” she added. Geoff looked at Ray, then Jack, and sighed. 

“Alright, shitheads,” he said through ground teeth. “If any of us end up dead, I’m blaming Ray, but I guess we can try this without the guns.”

***

Ray wouldn’t say that feeling awkward was a rare occurrence for him. He felt awkward every time he was forced to leave the house. But he had to admit, sitting in a room with his ex-boyfriend, former partner in crime and fellow crew members probably took the cake. Especially since he seemed to be the only one in the room that didn’t want everyone dead.

Michael stormed in after a while, eyes narrowed. Lindsay wasn’t far behind. She looked a lot less angry than Michael, a lot more concerned. She took her place beside Jack, standing in front of Gavin to defend him. 

Michael took the only free seat at the table and immediately proceeded to glare at Barbara and Joel, alternating between each and occasionally Ray. Jack had called him earlier to explain what had happened, and he didn’t look impressed.

“So what do we do with these shitheads?” Michael stated, leaning back in his chair. “We’re killing them, I’m guessing?” Joel rolled his eyes and Barbara scoffed.

“I’d like to see you try,” Barbara said with a smirk. Michael turned to her with a glare, and Ray mentally facepalmed himself. _God damn it, Barb_. He had just managed to stop everyone from shooting each other, he seriously did not need Barbara winding Michael up. She never knew when to keep her mouth shut. 

“Is that a threat?” Michael growled, scowl deepening. Barbara’s smirk didn’t falter. She shrugged a shoulder in response and turned back to Geoff.

“We can’t just abandon our mission,” she said, continuing their earlier conversation. “If the Family don’t kill us, then they’ll just hire someone else to do the same job.”

“Or hire us again,” Joel added under his breath. Barbara ignored his comment.

“You don’t really have much choice,” Geoff pointed out. “You’re not killing Gavin. Or Dan, for that matter, or anyone else under our protection. The only reason you two are still alive is because you have history with Ray, or something. Though -” he added as an afterthought, “I know I have a lot of exes I would love to see dead.”

“I’m pretty sure the only reason were still alive, actually, is because we had a fucking gun to your partner’s head, and you didn’t really have another option,” Barbara corrected. Geoff raised an eyebrow at her.

“You don’t think we could shoot you right now?”

“You can’t, and you won’t,” Joel answered for Barbara. Ray wasn’t sure if that was entirely true; he also wasn’t sure it was false, either. Geoff was good, sure, but the freelancers had always been great - and it had been three years since he last saw them in action.

“God fucking damn it, can we do something about these fucks?” Michael burst out, slamming a hand down on the table. Barbara’s eyes trailed right over him and turned to Lindsay and Jack, who still stood in front of Gavin. The small smirk she wore on her lips was enough to make Ray feel nervous. 

Everyone turned to Geoff as his phone started to ring in his pockets. He let out a disgruntled sigh and excused himself. Ray watched him go. 

“Just get out of here, Barb,” he said, avoiding looking towards Joel. “Seriously, you know you’re not going to be able to touch Gav, anyway.”

“You don’t think I could take you on?” Barbara teased. Ray rolled his eyes. She seemed incapable of being serious for one second.

“You couldn’t take us on,” he corrected her. “You’re outnumbered.”

“Didn’t stop us before.”

“Oh, shut up.”

“I’m just getting a bloody drink!” Ray turned to see Gavin arguing with Jack, hands raised in the air in exasperation. Jack didn’t seem pleased about Gavin leaving his side.

“You’re in a room with two people trying to kill you,” Jack argued. Lindsay looked equally as uncomfortable, but didn’t go to stop the Brit. 

“I don’t need a babysitter!” Gavin hissed, shoving the older man’s hand off of his shoulder. He stormed over to the fridge, which had been stocked with alcohol just for the one day they had planned to use it, and took out two beers.

“Here, catch,” he said, throwing one to Jack. Jack caught it but quickly dropped it, hissing as the drink sprayed up in his face.

“You opened it, idiot!” 

“Did not!” Gavin squawked, quickly returning to Jack’s side. Jack glared at him.

“Well, there was a hole in it then! The beer’s all in my beard, now!”

“Now it’s a beer-d,” Barbara butted in, chuckling to herself. Joel and Ray turned to her with equal looks of disapproval.

“Terrible,” Ray said, shaking his head. “Fucking terrible.” He turned around again when Gavin let out yet another squawk, trying to leap away from Jack’s punches.

“You think that group of kids can beat us,” Joel said dully. Ray looked over at him and felt a blush creep into his cheeks.

“That group of kids runs the criminal world of Los Santos,” Ray retorted. Joel scoffed and looked away.

Geoff returned soon after, phone away, and Ray let out a quiet sigh of relief. He turned to face Joel and Barbara with a stony expression.

“Get the fuck out of here,” he hissed. “I swear to God, I will kill you next time I see you.” Barbara raised her eyebrows, replaced quickly by a smirk, and she saluted him.

“Farewell, boys,” she said, before quickly correcting herself with a glance at Lindsay. “And girl.” She winked at her, and Lindsay narrowed her eyes. “I hope it’s not the last I see of you.” Ray gritted his teeth and watched her and Joel leave.

“Why the fuck didn’t we kill them?” Michael yelled. Geoff put up a hand to shut them up.

“That was Kdin on the phone. Jeremy and Matt found something on Mark Nutt – you know, the fucking bastard that’s been trying to get in my territory lately. They know where he’s going to be in a few days, and we’re going to take him out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Hey if you ever need me to tag any trigger warnings or anything seriously let me know k.)
> 
> Hey another chapter, whoo! This will probably be longer than Put On Your War Paint btw. I'll also probably end up editing up Put On Your War Paint, too... not for a while, though, because I'm still updating this and Hope For The Best, and then on top of that I'm in an exam year, and yeah. Stuff sucks.
> 
> The second part of this chapter was really hard to write for some reason? Like it just doesn't work as well as some others I think... but whatever. :')
> 
> Also just one last note - writing about Barbara and Joel and Ray and stuff in this chapter makes me want to write a bunch of short prequels to this. Haha maybe it'll happen eventually. :)
> 
> So yeah byee.


	8. Drop A Heart, Break A Name

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is super late. I've been busy and whenever I did write I kept getting frustrated and just uchh. I also thought that I would be able to catch up over Christmas and get this done by January, but my teacher has given me over thirty chapters to study for after New Years, and that's just one of my subjects, so it looks like that's not gonna' happen...
> 
> (Though I'll totally be using writing to procrastinate studying. It's what I've been doing for the past hour or so, anyway.)
> 
> Anyway, enjoy this chapter and stuff! Like I said, I don't know if I'll be updating this as often, but I'll try to get it up ASAP. Bye. :)

Michael hated a lot of things. Cold definitely made it into his top ten, and ski resorts were the epitome of cold places. So of course, where does Mark Nutt decide to make his fucking business transactions? A fucking ski resort.

Michael didn’t even try to understand his logic. Geoff had informed him that weapons were being delivered here, so why the guy thought it was a good idea to make them by transported up a mountain to a ski lodge was a good idea, Michael didn’t have a clue. Defence, maybe? 

It was working, he supposed. Their car had fucked up on them at the bottom of the mountain, so now they were faced with getting the ski lift running again or walking up the mountain. Michael was fairly sure he could get the cable cars running again fairly easily, even if it had been a while since the resort was open for business. Hell, he was fucking determined, because there was no way he was climbing up a God damn mountain.

Most of them seemed to agree that fixing the cable cars was the best way to go about it. Dan’s leg was getting better, but was still by no means cured, and they didn’t think he’d be able to get up the mountain, even if it wasn’t that steep. 

Which was why Michael was currently crouched down beside a fuse box, hands almost numb from the cold, with a bickering Ray and Geoff behind him.

“We should have waited,” Ray grumbled. “We should be dealing with the Family and the Dark Men right now, not going after fucking Nutt. They know how to track us down, we should get them out of the picture.” Michael found himself agreeing with Ray, even if only because he wanted to be out of the cold as soon as possible.

“Well, when you find out a way to take them out, you let me know,” Geoff snapped back. “We need to take Mark Nutt out now. He may be pretty dumb, but he’s at least as good as you when it comes to his aim, and fucking hard to find. If we get a chance to take him out, we have to take it. Simple as that.”

“We need help with the Family and Dark Men,” Ray pointed out. “Seriously, we’re way over our heads.” Geoff let out a low sigh.

“I already know who you’re going to suggest. Rooster Teeth can’t be involved. We’ve already been targeted by these groups just by helping Gavin and Dan, and I don’t want them to be, too. They probably wouldn’t take the job for that reason, anyway.”

“I wasn’t going to suggest Rooster Teeth, actually,” Ray said. Michael bit his lip and leaned in to the wires. None of them seemed to be in too bad a state, but the cable cars still hadn’t started to move.

“Oh, so you know someone who, first of all, we don’t care about enough to make them a target, and secondly, they don’t care about being a target themselves,” Geoff summarized, adding in a dramatic eye roll. “Yeah, that seems fucking impossible.”

“Actually, I think do I know someone,” Ray said, sounding mildly uncomfortable. “They already offered to help us, but I don’t think you’ll like it-”

Their attention was diverted as the cable cars suddenly whirred to life. Michael stood up and fist pumped the air in triumph. Geoff smirked and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Good job, dude,” he praised. “I’ll go get the rest of them, they’re still in the car.”

“Ray and I can start heading up,” Michael said. “We’ll scope the place out before you get there.”

“Take this, then,” he said, throwing him a two way radio. Michael caught it and gave him a nod before Geoff left to join the others.

Michael waited for one of the cable cars to come back around to the beginning and climbed in, Ray not far behind. They sat in silence, Michael clenching his teeth together in some sort of psychological attempt to keep him warm. He doubted that Ray was any happier than him. After living with the guy for almost a year at this point, he knew Ray went outside even less than him. 

A gunshot made his head shoot up, but when it wasn’t followed up with anything he didn’t think anything of it. Gavin had probably just been fucking around again. Still, he should be more fucking careful. If Mark Nutt knew they were coming, their job would become a lot harder. 

Two more shots. Michael and Ray exchanged worried glances. They were nearly half way up the mountain by that point, and didn’t like the idea of having to get down in a hurry. The drop was nauseatingly high. 

“Geoff?” Michael called from over the radio. “You there? What’s up?” Ray turned behind him to see the car, and let out a low curse at the view. Michael frowned and looked over his shoulder.

“Fucking Dark Men, I think,” Geoff’s voice came back, unclear and filled with static. “They managed to find us again. I don’t get it.” Michael didn’t need to hear the explanation, though, as he could see for himself. A mob of men dressed in black emerged from the trees, each armed with a gun. The view made his blood run cold.

When Gavin had been describing the Dark Men and the Family, Michael had assumed the Family were who they should be worried about. The small army that had been sent to take them out was starting to make him think different.

“The Family are smarter,” Gavin had said. “More calculating, manipulative… they’re a bloody good aim too. The Dark Men are a lot more shoot first, ask questions later, kind of like you guys I guess. They’ve got a hell of a lot of men, though, and they’re not afraid to make a scene.” 

Gavin hadn’t been wrong about making a scene. Ray growled and ducked to keep his head out of view from the ground, but Michael kept his eyes locked on the car. It was heavily armored, of course, but he couldn’t see it surviving for much longer under the rain of bullets.

“What do you want us to do, Geoff?” Michael hissed. “Come back down? We have our guns, we can start sniping-”

“Fuck that,” Geoff replied. “Get to the top and take out Nutt before he gets away. He’ll definitely know we’re here now. Sniping will just make them notice your position, anyway.”

Just as Geoff finished his sentence, a bullet flew over Michael’s head. He swore and ducked down. It was a bit late for them to not be noticed, then. Ray scowled and pulled his gun out of its holster, and Michael followed suit. He peered around the corner of the cable car, and let out a loud yell as pain erupted in his right shoulder.

“Fuck, Michael!” Ray yelled, ducking back behind cover. He pulled Michael back just as he was about to topple out of the cable car, and Michael felt the radio being wrestled from his grip. Michael blinked, dazed, and looked down at his wound. _Fuck_ , that was a lot of blood. He wasn’t feeling great.

“Geoff, it’s Michael,” Ray said over the radio. “He’s been shot, I don’t know what to do. Should I come back down?”

“It’s not any safer down here,” Geoff replied, his voice distant. “Just, keep pressure on it. Did the bullet go through?”

“I…I don’t know, man.” Michael frowned lightly. Ray’s voice sounded foggy and hazed as Michael faded off, but he could hear the desperation in his voice. That wasn’t like Ray. Ray was the one who kept level headed in any situation.

Ray let out a low groan at the silence on the other end of the line. “Oh, shit, dude. You don’t want me to check it out, do you? I’m not a doctor,” he said, pulling a face.

“It would help.” This time it was Jack’s voice through the radio. Michael’s eyes drifted closed as he tried to ignore the ache in his shoulder.

A hand brushed against Michael’s shoulder, and he let out a gasp at the searing pain it caused.

“Sorry, dude,” Ray mumbled. He gently pushed Michael on to his side and lightly pressed against the wound. Michael’s eyes opened and he let out a sharp yell of pain. Ray cursed under his breath. “Fuck, dude, I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Come on, Ray,” Jack said. “Michael needs you.” Ray nodded, taking deep breaths. Michael’s vision was blurry behind the tears welling in his eyes.

Michael let out a low hiss as Ray touched his shoulder again, and Ray quickly pulled back. 

“Yeah, it went through,” Ray confirmed, breathing coming out heavy. “It went through – oh, fuck, man, there’s a lot of blood.”

“Shit,” Jack muttered. “Define a lot. If it hit an artery, then that is definitely not a good thing.”

“I don’t know, Jack. A lot of blood, okay? I can’t really be more exact than that right now.”

“He’s going to be okay, right?” Gavin’s voice asked over the radio. “Michael, Jesus Christ… is he – how’s it looking, Ray?” Michael looked up at Ray. He tried to push himself up, but the force on his shoulder caused the edges of his vision to darken. It took Ray a moment to answer Gavin’s question.

“Not great, Vav,” he admitted. “He'll be okay, but...he needs help. Fast.”

“Geoff, we need to get up there,” Gavin burst out. “Please, he can’t die, I can’t-” Michael’s eyes closed and he passed out before he could hear the rest of Gavin’s sentence.

***

Gavin didn’t realize what had happened immediately. He had been preoccupied with keeping the small army dressed in black behind them at bay. Geoff had been talking to Michael over the two-way radio, and it wasn’t until his voice grew strained and he called for Jack that Gavin realized something was wrong.

He leaned back slightly, just so he could hear the conversation on Jack’s end and try to make sense of what happened. It was hard to focus when he was shooting, too, but he definitely heard Michael’s name. 

“If it hit an artery, then that is definitely not a good thing.”

Gavin’s heart squeezed in his chest, making it difficult to breathe. It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together. Michael had been shot. He had been _shot_. Bloody hell. Maybe it wasn’t bad. Maybe it was just a graze, or in somewhere less important. His foot, maybe. Gavin had survived a shot to the foot before.

“He’s going to be okay, right?” Gavin asked, turning away from the window to hear Ray and Jack. His voice wobbled slightly when he spoke, and he took a deep breath before he continued. “Michael, Jesus Christ… is he – how’s it looking, Ray?”

There was an uncomfortable silence on the other side of the radio, and a chill ran down Gavin’s spine. Jack was looking at him with a look that could only be described as pity, and it wasn’t making Gavin feel any more hopeful.

“Not great, Vav,” Ray’s voice eventually admitted. “He'll be okay, but... he needs help. Fast.”

“Bloody hell,” Gavin muttered, before saying louder, calling to be heard by everyone over the gunshots. “Geoff, we need to get up there. Please, he can’t die. I can’t just sit here while he’s dying up there, I can’t just wait for him to…”

“No one’s dying, Gavin,” Jack comforted. “Ray can handle this. We’ll be more of a liability than anything.”

“How do you expect to get up there, anyway?” Dan pointed out, not looking in from the window. “We’re kind of being ambushed, if you didn’t notice.” Gavin knew they were probably right, but it didn’t make him feel better.

“Fuck,” Ray hissed over the radio, causing Gavin to whip his head around. “ _Fuck_ , I think Michael’s passed out. We’re almost at the top of the mountain now – I could try to get him to the ski lodge, but I don’t know if the Dark Men would shoot at us again.”

“We need a distraction,” Geoff mused. Gavin looked towards the steering wheel, but he doubted they’d be able to get the car moving again. Geoff seemed to have a different idea, though, instead climbing out of the car and firing straight into the oncoming mass of people.

“Geoff!” Jack yelled, staring out after him. “You fucking idiot! You’re going to get yourself killed!” But of course, Jack followed him out anyway, leaving Gavin and Dan in the car alone. 

“What’s going on?” Ray asked. Gavin let out a desperate noise from the back of his throat. He shook his head lightly and quickly shut the car door. Bloody suicidal, is what that was.

“They’re mentalists, is what they are!” he said to Ray. “Geoff ran out into the gunfire, and Jack went after him. Christ…” Dan called for Gavin to help him shoot at the windows, and Gavin obliged. He picked up his gun again, reloaded, and positioned himself at the window; not before placing the radio beside him in case Ray had any updates on Michael, though.

Gavin couldn’t believe that two years ago, he had decided to leave the business for good, even if it meant not seeing any of the Fake AH Crew again. He had eventually teamed up with Dan to make the Slow Mo Guys, of course, but at that point it seemed like too much time had passed to go back to Los Santos.

Now, Gavin was back with the crew, but he had only made everything worse. Dan and Gavin had put them all at risk when they got taken by the Family, Ray and Michael were almost shot by snipers, who then broke free to almost kill Jack and Geoff, and now Michael was shot yet again by someone trying to kill him and was probably going to die. He shouldn’t have come back at all. 

Gavin’s breathing was coming out shaky and he shook the thought from his head. There was nothing he could do about that now. He had to focus on his shootings and try and find a way to help Michael, because bloody hell, he was not letting his boi die just yet.


End file.
